Chima is a partner in the Emerging and High Growth Companies Group of our Montreal office and Chair of Osler's Venture Fund Group. He practices corporate and securities law with an emphasis on private equity/venture capital fund formations and investments, emerging companies, corporate finance and private mergers and acquisitions.
Chima has acted for various private equity and venture capital funds in connection with their structuring and formation. He also has experience advising pension funds in connection with their investments in Canadian and international private equity funds. Chima regularly advises emerging companies at all stages of growth as well as the venture capital funds and other investors that finance them. He has also acted for corporations and investment banks in connection with corporate finance transactions and has extensive experience advising buyers and sellers in connection with acquisitions and dispositions of shares and assets.
In 2020 Chima was recognized as a Lexpert Rising Star: Leading Lawyers Under 40.
Areas of Expertise
Representative Work
- Amplitude Ventures
Amplitude Ventures in its closing of its $263 million venture capital fund
- Luge Capital Inc.
Luge Capital in its closing of $71 million of its target $100 million fund
- Northside Ventures
Northside Ventures in its launch of US$6.25 million fund
- Radical Ventures
Radical Ventures in its launch of a US$550 million fund
- Connektica
Connektica in its $2.7 million seed round
- Two Small Fish Ventures Inc.
Two Small Fish Ventures in the launch of its third fund
- iNovia Capital
iNovia Capital in its US$325 million early-stage fund
- Round13 Capital
Round13 Capital in the formation of its new VC Fund
- Impression Ventures
Impression Ventures in the $64 million Initial Closing of its Venture Capital Fund
- Harvest Ventures
Harvest Ventures in its $14 million venture fund
- Vertu Capital
Vertu Capital in its acquisition of PathFactory
- iNovia Capital
iNovia Capital in the launch of its $416 million venture capital fund
- Antler Innovation Pte. Ltd
Antler Innovation in its expansion into Canada
- Awz Ventures
Awz Ventures in the launch of Awz X-Seed, the firm's seed-stage technology accelerator and investment fund
- CTI Capital
CTI Capital in its new venture capital fund
- Information Venture Partners
Information Venture Partners in the $124 million closing of its third venture capital fund
- Round13 Capital
Round13 Capital in the formation of two new venture capital funds
- FlexPay
FlexPay in its $6 million late seed round led by Impression Ventures
- iNovia
iNovia in RenoRun’s $22.5 million Series A financing
- Untether AI & Radical Ventures
Untether AI in its $20 million Series A financing with Radical Ventures
- Information Venture Partners
Information Venture Partners in Verafin's $515 million venture funding
- Sensibill Inc & Radical Ventures
Sensibill in its $41 million Series B capital raise
- Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc.
Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc. raises $32 million Series A for Quantum Cloud Computing Platform.
- Radical Ventures L.P.
Radical Ventures in the launch of a new $471 million fund.
- Innovobot Inc.
Innovobot in its investment in Heyday Technologies
- iNovia Capital Inc., in connection with the formation of its new venture capital fund, iNovia Investment Fund 2015, which raised $175,000,000.
- Information Venture Partners, in connection with the formation of its new venture capital fund, Information Venture Partners II, which raised $72,500,000 at its initial closing.
- HarbourVest Partners in connection with the formation of HarbourVest Canada Growth Fund, a venture capital fund of funds formed as part of the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Action Plan. The fund raised $197 million at its initial closing.
- TPG Capital LP in connection with its agreement to form a partnership (with Fosun, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Guy Laliberté) and to acquire the Cirque du Soleil (the largest private equity deal in Québec in 2015).
- Blockstream Corporation in connection with Seed and Class A preferred share financings.
- H.I.G. Capital, in connection with the acquisition of ATX Networks Corporation.
- Formation of the following private equity / venture capital funds: Teralys Capital Fund of Funds, Rho Canada Ventures II, Persistence Capital Partners, Lumira Capital II, Merck Lumira Biosciences Fund, iNovia Investment Fund III, TVM Life Science Ventures VII, Réal Investment Fund (Real Ventures), CTI Life Sciences Fund and others.
- TELUS Corporation in connection with its 2015 acquisition of a 20% interest in Alithya, a Quebec based IT and consulting services provider.
- Rho Capital, iNovia Capital, Real Ventures, BDC Capital, Cycle Capital, in several equity and debt investments in emerging companies.
- Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund in connection with the sale of its Montreal East sulphur removal and compliance services business to Suncor Energy Products Inc. for $120 million.
- J.P. Morgan and the other initial purchasers in connection with private placements by New Gold Inc. of US$300 million and US$500 million senior notes in the United States and Canada
- MEGA Brands Inc. in connection with its US$460 million acquisition by Mattel.
- TELUS Corporation in connection with the 2012 acquisitions of privately held KinLogix, the largest provider of cloud-based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Quebec, and of Wolf Medical Systems, Canada’s leading EMR solution provider.
- MEGA Brands Inc. in a recapitalization under the Canada Business Corporations Act including a debt reduction of approximately US$290 million; a public bought deal of subscription receipts in an amount of $110 million and a US$121.25 million private placement of common shares, debentures and warrants.
- March Networks Corporation, World Color Press Inc., Tim Horton’s Inc., Miranda Technologies Inc., Kinross Gold Corporation, NOVA Chemicals Corporation, TELUS Corporation and Groupe CVTech Inc., among other issuers, in the preparation and implementation of shareholder rights plans and defense planning.
Amplitude Ventures in its closing of its $263 million venture capital fund
Luge Capital in its closing of $71 million of its target $100 million fund
Northside Ventures in its launch of US$6.25 million fund
Radical Ventures in its launch of a US$550 million fund
Connektica in its $2.7 million seed round
- Two Small Fish Ventures Inc.
Two Small Fish Ventures in the launch of its third fund
- iNovia Capital
iNovia Capital in its US$325 million early-stage fund
- Round13 Capital
Round13 Capital in the formation of its new VC Fund
- Impression Ventures
Impression Ventures in the $64 million Initial Closing of its Venture Capital Fund
- Harvest Ventures
Harvest Ventures in its $14 million venture fund
- Vertu Capital
Vertu Capital in its acquisition of PathFactory
- iNovia Capital
iNovia Capital in the launch of its $416 million venture capital fund
- Antler Innovation Pte. Ltd
Antler Innovation in its expansion into Canada
- Awz Ventures
Awz Ventures in the launch of Awz X-Seed, the firm's seed-stage technology accelerator and investment fund
- CTI Capital
CTI Capital in its new venture capital fund
- Information Venture Partners
Information Venture Partners in the $124 million closing of its third venture capital fund
- Round13 Capital
Round13 Capital in the formation of two new venture capital funds
- FlexPay
FlexPay in its $6 million late seed round led by Impression Ventures
- iNovia
iNovia in RenoRun’s $22.5 million Series A financing
- Untether AI & Radical Ventures
Untether AI in its $20 million Series A financing with Radical Ventures
- Information Venture Partners
Information Venture Partners in Verafin's $515 million venture funding
- Sensibill Inc & Radical Ventures
Sensibill in its $41 million Series B capital raise
- Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc.
Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc. raises $32 million Series A for Quantum Cloud Computing Platform.
- Radical Ventures L.P.
Radical Ventures in the launch of a new $471 million fund.
- Innovobot Inc.
Innovobot in its investment in Heyday Technologies
- iNovia Capital Inc., in connection with the formation of its new venture capital fund, iNovia Investment Fund 2015, which raised $175,000,000.
- Information Venture Partners, in connection with the formation of its new venture capital fund, Information Venture Partners II, which raised $72,500,000 at its initial closing.
- HarbourVest Partners in connection with the formation of HarbourVest Canada Growth Fund, a venture capital fund of funds formed as part of the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Action Plan. The fund raised $197 million at its initial closing.
- TPG Capital LP in connection with its agreement to form a partnership (with Fosun, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Guy Laliberté) and to acquire the Cirque du Soleil (the largest private equity deal in Québec in 2015).
- Blockstream Corporation in connection with Seed and Class A preferred share financings.
- H.I.G. Capital, in connection with the acquisition of ATX Networks Corporation.
- Formation of the following private equity / venture capital funds: Teralys Capital Fund of Funds, Rho Canada Ventures II, Persistence Capital Partners, Lumira Capital II, Merck Lumira Biosciences Fund, iNovia Investment Fund III, TVM Life Science Ventures VII, Réal Investment Fund (Real Ventures), CTI Life Sciences Fund and others.
- TELUS Corporation in connection with its 2015 acquisition of a 20% interest in Alithya, a Quebec based IT and consulting services provider.
- Rho Capital, iNovia Capital, Real Ventures, BDC Capital, Cycle Capital, in several equity and debt investments in emerging companies.
- Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund in connection with the sale of its Montreal East sulphur removal and compliance services business to Suncor Energy Products Inc. for $120 million.
- J.P. Morgan and the other initial purchasers in connection with private placements by New Gold Inc. of US$300 million and US$500 million senior notes in the United States and Canada
- MEGA Brands Inc. in connection with its US$460 million acquisition by Mattel.
- TELUS Corporation in connection with the 2012 acquisitions of privately held KinLogix, the largest provider of cloud-based Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Quebec, and of Wolf Medical Systems, Canada’s leading EMR solution provider.
- MEGA Brands Inc. in a recapitalization under the Canada Business Corporations Act including a debt reduction of approximately US$290 million; a public bought deal of subscription receipts in an amount of $110 million and a US$121.25 million private placement of common shares, debentures and warrants.
- March Networks Corporation, World Color Press Inc., Tim Horton’s Inc., Miranda Technologies Inc., Kinross Gold Corporation, NOVA Chemicals Corporation, TELUS Corporation and Groupe CVTech Inc., among other issuers, in the preparation and implementation of shareholder rights plans and defense planning.
Latest Insights
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Osler Update Jan 27, 2023
VC funds – not one size fits all
The aggregation of private capital for the purpose of investing in startups and emerging and high growth companies continues to be one of the drivers...
Read more -
Osler Update Dec 13, 2021
VC fund managers innovate to keep pace
Activity levels in the venture capital (VC) and growth equity market in 2021 show no signs of slowing down.
Read more -
Osler Update Jul 25, 2017
VC and PE firm codes of conduct
Recent events at certain venture capital (VC) firms in Silicon Valley have brought into focus the importance of VC and private equity firms adopting...
Read more
Awards and Recognition
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The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: Recognized in Investment Funds & Asset Management
-
Lexpert Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40: Recognized as a Rising Star (2020)
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Best Lawyers in Canada: Recognized in Mergers and Acquisitions Law; Private Funds Law; "Lawyer of the Year", Private Funds Law (2022)
Media Mentions
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Osler News Aug 8, 2022
Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Companies practice launches Venture Fund Group
Osler’s Emerging and High Growth Practice is proud to announce the formation of a dedicated Venture Fund Group.
Read more -
Osler News Aug 26, 2021
Osler recognized in 2022 edition of Best Lawyers Canada
Osler is proud to announce that 168 of our lawyers have been recognized in the 2022 Best Lawyers Canada rankings
Read more -
Osler News Feb 19, 2021
Lexpert recognizes 21 Osler lawyers as technology leaders
Osler is pleased to announce 21 of our lawyers have been recognized as leading lawyers in the Lexpert Special Edition: Technology 2021.
Read more -
Osler News Nov 16, 2020
Alex Gorka and Chima Ubani recognized as Lexpert Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40
Osler is pleased to congratulate Alex Gorka and Chima Ubani for being recognized as 2020 Lexpert Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40.
Read more
Speaking and Writing
Published Work
- COVID-19 – Private equity and venture capital fund considerations, Osler Update, Mar 23, 2020.
- VC and PE firm codes of conduct , Osler Update, July 25, 2017.
- The ABCs of selling a business, Montreal Gazette, December 17, 2010.
- Getting over the hurdle: Understanding private equity funds, Montreal Gazette, November 17, 2010.
Credentials
Education
- McGill University, LL.B/B.C.L.
- McGill University, B.Sc. (Biochemistry)
Languages
- French
- English
Professional Affiliations
- Barreau du Québec
- Canadian Bar Association
